NaNoWriMo: Supplemental

It’s day 1 (9 hours into this event) and I’m still really excited about NaNoWriMo, so I thought I would share some more information about the book I’m writing this month.

Allow me to introduce my main characters:

Someone on twitter mentioned that Roman looks like Malcom Reynolds from FireFly. That wasn’t my intention. The Myrith culture is all about class structure and practical dirt-side clothing with a bit of old school fashion sense, so I was going for a mix of Western and Victorian – but hey maybe having a tie to FireFly is a good thing (PS: I loved that show).

Also, I’ve created an outline of sorts for my Novel. I explained it in a NaNoWriMo forum, but I’ll post it here for your enjoyment as well.

I use a very rough outline for my novels. It’s normally only 10 to 13 bullet points, however I try to make sure that I follow the three act structure. So…

– MC in normal setting
– Something happens (MC removed from setting, setting changed, setting threatened)
– MC enters the “New” (MC forced to address the something that has happened)
– Problem 1
– Group of Allies (and/or antagonist reveal – if not done already)
– Problem 2
– Small win (or defeat)
– Problem 3
– No Turning back (the event that causes the MC to give 110% – examples: an important death/ learn something of value)
– The Show Down (the climax)
– The ending (whether its happy or sad, the MC must either go back to original setting, realize she can’t, or realize he doesn’t want to)

You can add more or less problems (events that escalate tension and are obstacles for your MC to overcome) depending on your story. Also, remember that this plot structure doesn’t work for all stories. It works best for “hero” stories, normally found in genre fiction.

And in case your interested, Act One is “MC in Normal Setting” to “MC enters the New”, Act Two is from “Problem 1” to “Problem 3” (the bulk of your story), and Act Three is from “No Turning Back” to “The End”.

I can’t let you in on ALL the points of my outline, but I might let a couple out here and there. Probably when I’m having troubles (fingers crossed that doesn’t happen too much).

Ok, no more. Must get back to writing. I’ve got a local Write-In in a few hours: Writing on the Rails (we’re taking over a couple transit train cars to write in – should be fun).